ion
on that sector during the last four months. The two present first
lines of trench had been taken from the Germans. Plans were now
under way to stage a series of assaults which, it was hoped, would
drive the Huns out of their three present first lines of trench
and add them to the French system.

An officer wearing the emblem of the French medical service opened
the door and glanced in.

"My general, you were not hurt by that bomb?" he cried anxiously.

"I had forgotten it," replied the French divisional commander.
"What was it?"

"A Hun airman dropped a bomb on the roof. It blew a hole in the
roof and worked some damage in your bedroom overhead."

"It does not matter," said General Bazain simply.

Bang! bang! smashed overhead.

"It must be the same rascal, returning in his flight!" cried the
medical officer, darting out into the yard to look up at the sky.
A moment later anti-aircraft guns began to bark. Two minutes
after the medical officer again looked into the room.

"We are fortunate to-day, my general!" cried the doctor. "That
scoundrel will not bother you again. One of our shots wrecked
his plane and brought the Hun down---dead."

Evidently, however, that airman of the enemy had given the location
and range of division headquarters, for now a shell from a German
battery struck and exploded in the yard outside, killing a sentry
and wounding two orderlies. A second and a third shell followed.
A fourth shell tore away the corner of the house without injuring
any one.

"Your orders, my general, in case our observers can locate the
Hun battery?" asked a staff officer, coming in from the next room
and resting a hand on a telephone instrument.

"If the enemy battery can be located," replied General Bazain,
"let it be destroyed."

Rapidly the staff officer sent his message to the artillery post
of command.

"But surely you will go to a shelter?" asked the staff officer,
laying down the instrument when he had finished.

"It will be inconvenient," sighed the division commander. "The
light here is much better."

Yet General Bazain permitted himself to be persuaded to remove
from this now highly dangerous spot. As he and his staff, accompanied
by the visitors, stepped outside another shell exploded close at
hand, fortunately without doing harm.

Descending to the cellar of a wrecked house near by, in the wake
of their hosts, the Americans found the entrance to steps, cut
in the earth, lead